Biceps Brachii – Self Care

Avoid activities that strain or jerk the arm straight. This includes:

• carrying too many grocery or yard bags. Or, heavy suitcases.
• a dog or child jerking on your arm, especially jerking it backward.
• a car hatchback jerking your arm straight upward.
• vigorous or forceful twisting the forearm while the elbow is bent, as when putting screws into a wall.
• flexing the elbow while repeatedly twisting the wrist, as when shoveling.
• playing violin.
• hard serves and backhands in tennis.

If the elbow doesn’t straighten, see a bodyworker for attention to the radial/ulnar joint. Until then, only straighten the elbow with gentle stretches.

A vapocoolant patch like IcyHot or SalonPas helps release the trigger point and offers a good bit of relief. Although this trigger point hurts in the shoulder or the front of the elbow, you’ll get the most relief by putting the patch over the trigger point in the middle of the biceps. If you put the patch over the focus of pain, you’ll still get some relief as well. Just not as much.

Typically better than creams

Using creams that produce a scent in this area can bother your eyes, especially while you’re working at a desk. These recommended patches produce less extraneous vapor.

The 60-quantity box of Salonpas patches is a great price. You can get it on Amazon or at your local grocery or drug store.

Double Stretch

This stretch is a great way to lengthen the biceps tendon gently and evenly. Do this while facing a mirror so that you can watch your form. Here are a few pointers:

• Start with your hands by your side and palms facing each other. Extend your arms back while keeping the elbows straight and the arms even with each other.
• The tight biceps will tend to wander away from the body as you extend back. Be mindful of keeping the arms even.
• The tight biceps will also tend to bend at the elbow. Keep the elbow straight, and don’t stretch forcefully. Instead, gentle repetitions are the key to retraining movement and opening the biceps.
• Don’t let your body bend forward. Focus the tension of movement in the shoulder and biceps.
• Ice-and-stretch is a great way to make faster, easier progress.

Once you have opened the lateral head with this stretch, focus on the short head. To do that, fold your hands behind your hips and then turn your palms away from your hips. Continue with repetitions while watching yourself in the mirror. The short biceps will make the elbow bend as you extend. Don’t break form by letting that happen.

Classic Biceps Stretch

This is the classic stretch for the biceps brachii. There are several points worth noting.

• Position the hand above the shoulder.
• Keep the elbow straight through the movement.
• Turn your body so that the opposite shoulder turns back toward the hand on the door frame.
• Only hold the stretch for 2 seconds.
• Be gentle with the stretch. If you are too aggressive, the subsequent stretch will be less flexible.
• Ice-and-stretch is a great way to make faster, easier progress.

Chest Openers

Many chest openers, like the camel pose, open the biceps as well. This is especially true when the forearm is supinated so that the thumb is turned out.

Short biceps are also revealed and stretched in poses that extend the elbow behind the back at shoulder level, like Warrior 2. When the biceps are a problem, the elbow will bend, or the arm will dip toward the floor.

Tight biceps are easy to spot in a class. The elbow tends to stay flexed when standing and relaxed.

Cranio Cradle Cup

This mug has classic, colorful illustrations of the craniosacral system and vault hold #3. It makes a great gift and conversation piece.